Founder Institute Fellowships

The Founder Institute offers a number of different Fellowships, providing opportunity for promising founders to launch a company in our startup accelerator program, free of charge.

See the list of Fellowships being offered for the Kansai Spring 2014 Semester below, and be sure to apply by the Early Admissions Deadline of 2014-04-13 to be eligible.

The Female Founder Fellowship is awarded to the most extraordinary female applicant for each chapter, giving them the opportunity to enroll in the Founder Institute for free. The recipient will be recognized as a female with the utmost potential to become a succesful technology entrepreneur.

The FFF is part of the Founder Institute's ongoing effort to surpass 30% of female-led companies graduating from the program. When we announced the program in 2011, 16% of Founder Institute companies were founded by females. Since then, the results of this program have been astounding, as our overall number of female-founded companies has increased 62%, to a total of 26%. This is more than twice as high as most other incubators.

Eligibility: In order to be eligible for the Female Founder Fellowship for the Kansai Spring 2014 Semester, you must complete your application and Admissions Test by the early Admissions Deadline of 11:59 PM on 2014-04-13. Any female who follows those guidelines will be automatically eligible - no further steps are required.

Grant: The recipient of the Female Founder Fellowship will be awarded within 72 hours after the Early Admissions Deadline.

The Applicant Distinction Fellowship is awarded to the most extraordinary applicant for each chapter, giving them the opportunity to enroll in the Founder Institute for free. The recipient will be recognized as somebody with the utmost potential to become a succesful technology entrepreneur.

Eligibility: In order to be eligible for the Applicant Distinction Fellowship for the Kansai Spring 2014 Semester, you must complete your application and Admissions Test by the early Admissions Deadline of 11:59 PM on 2014-04-13. Anyone who follows those guidelines will be automatically eligible - no further steps are required.

Grant: The recipient of the Applicant Distinction Fellowship will be awarded within 72 hours after the Early Admissions Deadline.

StartOut Smart Fellowships, supported by StartOut, are awarded to up to 20 promising LGBT candidates, giving them the opportunity to enroll in the Founder Institute for free, and have access to StartOut mentors, funding, and demo day events.

The Founder Institute is proud to partner with StartOut, a non-profit organization fostering entrepreneurship within the LGBT community, with the Startout Smart Program. The goal of this program is simply to promote StartOut's mission by providing education in entrepreneurship for the next generation of LGBT founders, helping increase the number of LGBT founders across the globe.

Eligibility: In order to be eligible for StartOut Smart Fellowships for the Spring 2015 Semesters, you must apply to the program by the February 17th, 2015. This pilot program is currently only available to applicants for the Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, and New York City programs.